The Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program -- which has accelerated the dismantlement of thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons -- represents a fundamental shift in the relationship between the United States and Russia away from Cold War mentalities, says Koch. The program, she notes, "addresses clear national security risks to both the United States and the recipient states, at a cost less than required to counter those threats by military means."

The 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union left four successor states with nuclear weapons on their territories: Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, and Ukraine. This sudden increase in potential members of the "nuclear club" posed a real threat to global stability and non-proliferation.

The Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program is dealing with this threat by accelerating the dismantlement of thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons, thereby ensuring that Russia is the sole nuclear inheritor of the former Soviet Union.

The CTR program was created in 1991 with passage by the U.S. Congress of the Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act -- also known as the Nunn-Lugar bill because it was proposed by Senator Richard Lugar and former Senator Sam Nunn. Funding for the program totals $1,800 million, of which more than half is allocated for Russia.

At its inception, the CTR program addressed the immediate concerns about post-Soviet nuclear weapons and seized the opportunity to cement progress on U.S.-Soviet arms control.

CTR assistance in the removal of nuclear warheads to Russia for dismantlement encouraged Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakstan to become non-nuclear state signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allowed the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to enter into force. Approximately 3,400 warheads were returned to Russia; Kazakstan became nuclear-weapons free in 1995 and Ukraine and Belarus in 1996. The CTR assistance in weapons dismantlement has also allowed Russia to be ahead of schedule in meeting its START reduction commitments.

In addition to accelerating the rate at which the successor states dismantle weapons systems, the CTR programs make arms control irreversible. By directly assisting former Soviet states in the actual dismantlement, weapons reductions are assured. So far, 1,700 missiles and 760 launchers and bombers have been eliminated in Russia. The program permits weapons to be literally cut into pieces, never again to pose a threat.

While these state-to-state efforts reduce the threat of war, CTR also addresses fears that the domestic changes in the former Soviet Union could promote the leakage of weapons, material, and personnel. By protecting nuclear weapons while they are headed for dismantlement, CTR reduces the possibility that nuclear materials and weapons would be obtained by sub-national groups, terrorists, organized crime, or "rogue" states.

CTR assistance also provides equipment and training for the safe storage of weapons materials and for export controls. The threat posed by former Soviet nuclear material lies mainly in the concern that inadequate security makes it more likely that weapons material could leak out of the country. The relaxation of domestic controls has made the previously invulnerable weapons complex very susceptible to theft. The sudden elevation of borders from internal ones to external makes them more porous to smuggling. By addressing the security, safety, control, accounting, centralization, and reduction of nuclear weapons and fissile material, CTR assistance helps greatly to reduce both the stockpiles and the possibility of proliferation.

To reduce the production of weapons-grade plutonium by reactors used for energy generation, CTR is currently negotiating an agreement with Russia to assist in the conversion of reactor cores so that only non-weapons-grade material will be produced. CTR was also an essential part of Project Sapphire, in which over 500 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium was brought to safe and secure storage in the United States.

Former Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian defense ministers water sunflowers freshly planted atop a former SS-19 ICBM silo site in Prevomaysk, Ukraine. The silo was dismantled under the ongoing U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.

Credit: Department of Defense photo by R.D. Ward.

Only recently has the international community faced the dangers of chemical weapons. The United States ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in April 1997 and has long pledged that it will eliminate all of its chemical weapons. Russia -- the only other declared chemical weapons country -- possesses the world's largest stockpile of chemical weapons. It is hoped that Russia will soon ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention as a signal of its commitment to the destruction of their chemical weapons. CTR has begun work toward building a destruction facility to initiate and accelerate Russia's chemical weapons destruction program.

Not only is the military-industrial complex vulnerable to theft, the scientists who have been employed by the once proud and extensive Soviet laboratory system are susceptible to offers of large compensation for their expertise by "rogue states." CTR-sponsored scientific centers are providing peaceful research opportunities to those scientists, both to reduce the former Soviet weapons complex and to prevent the scientists from leaving for lucrative jobs in other countries.

Other CTR programs address remaining issues of post-Soviet era weapons. CTR sponsors defense and military contacts that help overcome lingering Cold War mentalities on both sides. In addition to the four states already mentioned, CTR conducts programs to facilitate military-to-military contacts in other former Soviet states. By working to expand bilateral exchanges and visits, CTR helps build transparency, reform their militaries along more democratic lines, and foster mutual respect and shared interests. These contacts serve to mitigate or eliminate the dangers of their remaining weapons of mass destruction infrastructure.

There are currently four CTR umbrella agreements -- with Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, and Ukraine. Umbrella agreements to begin CTR programs in Moldova, Georgia, and Uzbekistan have recently been signed. Extending the CTR program to those states encourages them to become full members of the international community.

All of the programs that CTR administers address clear national security risks to both the United States and recipient states, at a cost less than required to counter those threats by military means. CTR programs address the ongoing weapons of mass destruction threat at the source.

Instead of acting as adversaries, the United States and the newly independent states are working together for mutual benefit. CTR focuses on the opportunity to reduce the potential dangers of excess weapons of mass destruction and to support defense industry reforms. While CTR reduces the threat to the United States of former Soviet weapons of mass destruction, it does so in a manner that both reflects and furthers the cooperative relationship being built by the U.S. and our former adversaries.